Paint stirrer



L a COPES PAINT STIRRER Filed April 22, 1927 9 a I a .L m

less time and with Patented Oct. 22, 1929 UNiTED STATES LOUIS GEORGE COPES, OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY PAINT STIRRER Application filed. April 22,

My invention is a stirrer for agitating paint in containers, the object being to facil1- tate the operations of stirring the pasty mass at the bottom of a can, and of mixing such pasty mass with the liquid contents of said can, to the ultimate end that the paste and liquid can be thoroughly mixed together to produce a paint of the desired consistency, whereby the operations can be performed in less effort than is possible with the common paint paddle, socalled, ordinarily supplied by the trade to customers.

My invention is embodied in a hand stirrer of the kind known as a paddle, but in contradistinction to the ordinary solid slab of wood used for this purpose, 1 construct the stirrer with slots for the performance of the function of reducing the resistance to the movement of the stirrer when the latter is thrust with a downward motion into the pasty mass at the bottom of the container, and, also, when the stirrer is moved by hand pressure through said mass.

It is well known that commercial paint, enamel, lacquers, or the like,when packed in cans or other containers and allowed to stand undisturbed for an appreciable length of time, results in an accumulation of pigments or other ingredients in the bottom of the container and such accumulation attains a pasty condition below the liquid ingredient or in- This pasty mass must be incorporated with the liquid, and the problem has been to devise a simple, effective and economcan be used by hand for the pasty the liquid gredients.

easily and quickly breaking up mass, and for mixing therewith contents of the container.

According to my invention, the stirrer is a blade slotted in a particular manner to produce a comb-like formation, the function of the slots being primarily to reduce the resistance to the movement of the stirrer through the pasty mass at the initial stages of the mixing operation, and the utility of the particular formation of the slots being to act upon all the body of the mass within the field of action of the blade. This utility will be appreciated when it is understood that slots cut in the stirrer ata right angle to the face of 1927. Serial No. 185,773.

said stirrer will, in the movement of the stirrer through the mass, leave trails of undisturbed paste on the bottom of the paint can, but to eliminate this objection, while retaining the desirable quality of relatively r construct free movement through the mass, 1 the stirrer with slots positioned at an angle to the face of the stirrer, with the result that the slots constitute a comb-like formation at one end of the stirrer, and comb are beveled, the angle of inclination to the face of the stirrer being such that the fingers sweep through the pasty mass without leaving traces of such mass undisturbed on the can bottom. Again, the stirrer is fashioned with oppositely inclined slots producing a comb-like formation which imparts to the stirrer the function of moving in a prescribed path and without a tendency to become deflected. to one side or the other by unequal. resistance from the pasty mass.

In service, my stirrer at the start of the operation is thrust by a downward motion through the liquid and into the pasty mass at the bottom of the container, and then is moved in a horizontal direction, or substantially so, through such mass, the effect at the start being to cut grooves in the mass and open up such mass to the free entry into such grooves of the liquid present in the can, and by repeated movements of the stirrer. the pasty mass is broken up easily and quickly with the result that the pigments and the liquid are thoroughly mixed together by a minimum of effort on the part of the work H man and with a material saving of time.

Other functions and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of a paint stirrer embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation.

Figure 3 is a horizontal cross section on the line 33 of Figure 2, and on an enlarged scale.

In the practical embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the stirrer A comprises a substantially oblong blade the novel feature of which is a comb-like formathe fingers of such tion at one end of said blade. The material and the dimensions of the stirrer are not vital factors, although it may be stated that the paddle consists usually of wood, but for certain classes of work, metal, fibre, hard rubber, celluloid, or any other material may be used in the roduction of the article.

For convenient manipulation, the stirrer is fashioned at the end opposite the comb-like formation with ahandle, i of suitable form, but the body of the paddle is of suitable length, and with flat faces and edges.

he comb-like formation is imparted to an end portion of the paddle by the presence of slots which open through the bottom end and through the opposite faces of said paddle. but to equalize the resistance to themotion of the paddlethro'ugh the materials these slots are inclined oppositely, substantially as shown. in Figure 3. The slots are indicated at Z), 0, with the slots 6 inclined in o'ne'dire'ction to the faces of the paddle, whereas slots 0 are inelined oppositely to slotsb and to the faces of said paddle; V heslots produce fingers B,

--, D, constituting the comb-like formation at inclined, being bounded by the adjacent opslots Z) c'. The fingers B, C, a the respective side edges 9f the stirrer are each hounded part by oppositely inclined b, 0', and in part by't'he straight surthe faces and iargina'l portions of the paddle,"whereas the fingers B, O, which are intermediate the middle finger D, and the described side fingers B C, are bounded by the'reversely inclined slots Z), c, and by the flat faces the opposite sides of the paddle.

' The angle of inclination of the slot is such that there is a slight overlap at the edges of the ets viewed from the faces stirrer,"'and when so viewed by th slant in the slot to cut off the view; otisly, too great an angle is to be avoided because inimical to the easy flow of paste through the slots. The width of the slots is a m aterialfactor, although in different sizes of paddles thewidth may vary from onesiizteenth to one-eighth of an inch To use the stirrer, the can is opened as usual,- and the handle a; of the stirrer is grasped tion, with the result that the fingers cut grooves in the pasty mass, into which grooves the liquid present in the can is free to flow.

uring such horizontal movement of the stirrer, the pasty mass passes through the slots, the inclination of which and the corresponding bevel of the fingers so acts upon the mass as to allow 7 the range of the paddle to remain undisturbed, and thus paste within the field of action of the paddle is stirred, with the result that the operation of stirring is facilitated to a marked extent and a thorough uniform adn'iixture of the semi-solid and liquid ingredients is obtained with a minimum of effort by the workman.

The inclined slots perform important functions in my paddle, and the opposite inclination of said slots lend an additional function.

he mere presence of slots in the con'ib-likc formation tends to reduce the resistance by the pasty mass to the movement through it of the paddle, but the inclination of the slots lends to the paddle the quality of stirring up all the mass within the field of action of the paddle, and, moreover, the opposite inclination of said slots tends to equalize the resistance of the mass to the motion through it of the paddle, with the result that there is no appreciable inequality in the resistance at the lespcttlve edges of the paddle and it follows that the paddle not deflected in its travel, but is free to follow a determined path.

My device is simple in construction, economical of manufacture, and GXPOIlODCO shows that it markedly ellicient in service for the reason that it afl'ords means whereby all the paint in a can is thoroughly and uniformly mixed in less time and with less effort than is possible with the ordinary solid paddle.

Obviously, the stirrer can be made in different sizes suited to the work to be performed, and the principle of the stirrer can be used in other relations, such as .in vats or tanks of large size the stirrers or scrapers of which require power for their operation.

In the preferred form of my invention the comb-like formation at one end of the blade is secured by slots extending at an angle to the faces of said blade, or as it may be otherwise stated, the slots are at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the blade. lVhile the angular disposition of the slots is desirable for the functions recited, it is appreciated that in some circumstances I may provide the comb-like formation by the use of slots cut through the blade at a right angle to the faces of the blade,- and parallel to the axis of the blade, but as such parallel relation will be readily understood, I have not deemed it necessary to illustrate the same in the thaw ings;

By reference to the drawings, it will be noted, furthermore, that the body portion of the stirrer is imperforate above the comblike formation, and that the slots open or extend through the lower end of said stirrer. he open ended slots are advantageous for the reason that the comb-fingers are thrust easily into the pasty mass at the bottom of the can by the initial downward motion of the stirrer. The imperforate body above the comb exceeds in area the length and width of the comb-like formation, and such imperiorate part of the stirrer acts on the ingredients of the paint to stir them and to facilitate their admixture.

Having thus fully described my invention,

' What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is As a new article of manufacture, a stirring paddle comprising a body provided with a handle portion at one end and a comb-like structure at the opposite end, the major portion of the body between the handle and the comb-like structure being of substantially the same width as the comb-like structure and imperi'orate to secure a paddle action on the liquid content of a container, said comb-like structure having a plurality of similar opposite longitudinally extending slots inclined at an angle to the vertical sides of the body so as to form angular central and side fingers adapted for ready entry into the semi-solid stratum at the bottom of the paint container, the walls of the slots being in overlapped relation to enable the angular lingers to stir and agitate the semi-solid paint component lying in the path of the pad le and the slots converging to cause a commingling of the material passing through the slots and the side fingers producing a free balanced movement with uniform pressure at each side of the paddle.

In testimony whereof I have hereto signed my name this 21 day of April, 1927.

LOUIS GEORGE COPES. 

